Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Memories fill their vision, both bad and good, thrumming through their veins. They remember the way danger settled in their bones when a lion settled in their soul.

"Well, that went well.", Lance remarked sarcastically, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest.

"I just wish we could show them what we've been through.", Pidge sighed, lifting her head to face the rest of the paladins. Shiro put a hand on her shoulder and she leaned into the comforting gesture.

They nodded in agreement, words from the debriefing echoing in their heads.

"Countless lives were sacrificed to protect this small pocket of earth, we finally have a chance now that the lions are here, and you refuse to give them up.", Admiral Sanda grit out, anger seeping into her blank face.

"There is no negotiating with Sendak.", Allura stated, eyes blazing with fury.

"We can end this war if you handed over the lions, but you refuse to make sacrifices.", another officer cut in.

"It's because of you that we were attacked in the first place.", the Admiral accused.

The paladins clenched their fists as the accusations replayed in their minds.The Garrison didn't even know what sacrifices the paladins were ready to make for the universe. Countless near death experiences replayed like a broken record.

Lance moved away from the wall when he noticed a glint of metal in the shadows. He picked it up examining it, running his fingers over the ridges on the object— a metal cube similar to a rubix cube.

"What is it?", Keith asked as the paladins formed a circle to see what Lance picked up. 

"Whatever it is, it's not Galran or Altean, it doesn't look like it's Garrison tech either.", Pidge stated after scanning the cube. She pulled up the scan to show the details of the cube.

"It looks like one of the Olkari cubes.", Allura observed, her eyes glinting with curiosity.

"It's not dangerous either.", Hunk read over her shoulder, soothing his nerves.

Lance started to solve the cube with ease, his hands moving fast as he solved it. When it was completed it began to pulse slowly and began to emit a blinding light. It was the last thing they saw before darkness filled their vision.

Chapter Text

The feeling of floating disappeared when their eyes opened. The darkness faded when they came face to face with a holo-screen that took up the wall. Blood thrummed in their heads as the paladins took in their surroundings.

Rows of seats spanned out throughout the room, each seat occupied by people who were slowly gaining consciousness. Keith reached for his bayard, his striking eyes scanning the room for a threat. The familiar adrenaline coursed through their veins as they searched for escape routes. Kosmo stood next to him, looking out for danger, his marks glowing faintly in the darkness.

The room in itself was more of an endless void that was illuminated by a blue glow from the screen. It had no doors, windows or vents, but instead seemed like a inescapable black hole.

People began to stir awake in their seats, confusion and fear lining their features. The MFEs, who occupied the row behind the paladins, and the Galaxy Garrison officials, who were in the row behind the MFEs, shifted in their seats with confusion seeping into their features. Murmurs filled the air as everyone began to voice their confusion.

“Where are we?”, Lance asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he instinctively reached for his bayard.

“I can’t get a read on this place, the scanners aren’t picking anything up.”, Pidge stated with confusion in her tone, her glasses glinting as she pushed it up her nose.

“This looks like a space pocket. They’re rips in space where the concept of time and direction is lost ”, Allura observed, her eyes filled with wonder.

“Which has to be why our scanners aren’t working.”, Hunk concluded, realization flickering in his eyes.

“Wherever we are, we can’t let our guard down.”, Keith stated, wariness filling his tone.

“Is there anyway we can escape?”, Shiro inquired, glancing at the paladins patiently for their input.

A low hum cut in before anyone could reply and the room fell into silence. Everyone turned to the screen, that had turned black before words in white appeared on the screen, music building up with it.

‘Voltron: Legendary Defender.’, The screen read.

Whispers erupted from the crowd, curiosity spilling into the air. The paladins glanced at each other, caution emitting from their stances. The Garrison officials leaned forward in their seats, eager to find out more about Voltron and the war against the Galra. The MFEs all lit up with curiosity as they had previously only been briefed about Voltron in very scarce details.

The words faded into black only for the background to change to that of space, a phrase in a blue glow appearing on screen,

‘The Rise of Voltron.’

“The Rise of Voltron.. does that mean..”, Hunk trailed off. He didn’t have to finish his sentence to know that the others were thinking the same. Their experiences in space would unravel and the sacrifices they made would come to light.

There were memories he didn’t want to revisit, the scars that came with the beat of his lion’s heart intertwining with his. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt a brush of skin against his. He glanced at his fingers which were intertwined with Pidge's, who gave a comforting squeeze to dispel his fears.

He noticed that the others had linked their hands together to form a chain of interwoven comfort. A smile snuck onto his face, the warmth from his family blooming in his chest as he turned towards the screen.

The scene continued to play, the view showing a planet. The words ‘Kerberos: Moon of Pluto’ appeared in the right corner.

Shiro tensed and took in a stuttering breath and Sam Holt tried to even out his breathing as flashes from their time in captivity echoed in their minds. The paladins glanced at Shiro in worry, shifting closer to him to offer silent comfort.

An object began to slide out of the ground, extracting an ice sample from the ground. A young boy with chestnut hair began to slowly slide the ice out of the capsule.

“So they didn’t crash..”, someone whispered. Anger clouded the crowd when they realized that the Garrison had claimed pilot error to hide what really happened on Kerberos. Guilt and shame flooded the officials when their lies were unravelling.

“Easy son, this ice is delicate.”, An older man warns from behind him. Matt continued to slide the ice out of the capsule, but slowed his pace. “Amazing.”, He breathed out, with a small smile on his face. He looked to his left. “Isn’t this exciting, Shiro?”

The view shifts to show a taller and broader man who was holding the capsule steady. “You guys get a little more excited about ice samples than I do.”, Shiro said bemusedly.

“This is history in the making. Not only have we travelled farther than any human ever has, but this ice could hold microscopic clues about the existence of life outside Earth.”, Sam commented.

Matt turned around. “Think of it, Dad. We could use those clues to become the first people to meet aliens.”, He marvelled and then turned back to the ice. “My life’s work would be complete.”, Sam replied.

At this, Shiro gave a sad smile as the bitter irony sank in. The paladins seemed to think the same as they all frowned.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake and they froze in confusion. “What is that? Seismic activity?”, Sam exclaimed.

“We should get back to the ship.”, Shiro said with a cautious tone. He made a move to grab the ice sample, but a giant shadow fell over them as a Galra ship moved closer.

“What? What is that?”, Sam yelled, “It can’t be.”

The view changed to show a close up view of Shiro, realization striking him when he glanced at the approaching Galra ship and his eyes widened.

“Run!”, He shouted, “Come on, run!” He pulled both of them forcefully, setting them into motion.

The cruiser charged up it’s beam with a low hum. It fired, the purple of the beam filling the screen as it sucked in the surroundings and everything else. Within seconds, it sucked them up as well before the screen went black.

A muffled voice spoke, “Emperor Zarkon, we were scouting System X-9-Y as ordered, when we found these primitive scientists. I don’t think they know anything useful.” The Galran soldier was addressing a silhouette, whose eyes glowed purple.

Everyone who knew of Zarkon shivered, the name alone bringing back painful memories. A chill ran down their spines on seeing the glowing eyes, relief flooding when they realized that Voltron had defeated him.

Admiral Sanda furrowed her brows at the silhouette on the screen. Who is that?, the question burned at the tip of her tongue but didn’t slip out, the tension of the room choking her from making a sound.

Others who were unaware of who Zarkon was, leaned closer to the screen, curiosity pulling at their bones.

“Take them back to the main fleet for interrogation. The druids will find out what they know.” The silhouette spoke, his voice gravelly and low.

Everyone shivered, a chill running through their skin at the voice.

The screen shifted back to Shiro, zooming out to show both Matt and Sam knocked out with their helmets still on. He looked between them before opening his mouth to speak.

“Please, we come from a peaceful planet! We mean you no harm!”, He pleaded.

The Galran officer turned to glower at him, but he continued to speak.

“We’re unarmed!”. A Galra hit him on the back of his head with the back of the gun. The screen turned black.

There were a few groans echoing the pained grunt Shiro gave when he was knocked out.

The screen switched to Shiro’s perspective as he was being dragged down the hall. One Galra had a hold of either Matt or Sam. The screen moved as Shiro turned to look at cells that lined the hall, out of which voices were emitted.

“Look, they brought in another one.”

“Who is it?”

“Over there, it’s another one.”

“Another one?”, someone whispered in shock.

Shiro looked to his right as he was being dragged along the hall, and was met with the sight of multiple levels of cells, each of which was no doubt occupied. His eyes widened and he gasped before the screen turned black.

Horrified gasps erupted from the audience as they took in the various levels of cells. The paladins let out outraged curses as they shook in anger. Shiro remained quiet taking in a deep breath. Hearing him take a sharp intake of breath, the paladins turned towards him with softened eyes.

“Are you alright?”, Allura asked him, her hand squeezing his shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m good.”, Shiro replied, his voice dim.

They enveloped him in a warm hug, comforting him immensely. Kosmo pushed his snout against his knee, sensing the need for comfort.

“We’ve got your back.", whispered Keith, determination lighting in his eyes.

“Always.”, Lance added, warmth lining his tone.

Shiro looked at everyone who all had the same fiery determination and warmth etched into their faces and his heart warmed at his team, his family. A small smile graced his features as he turned to the screen once again.

The screen lit up again focusing on the stars that dotted the expanse of space, before showing Kerberos again but with the words One Year Later.

“That was a big time jump.”, Rizavi murmured, the shock slowly wearing off.

“Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14. Begin descent to Kerberos for rescue mission.”

“There was a rescue mission?”, James Griffin asked, clearly confused.

“Oh dios mío.”, Lance groaned as realization hit him and he slid down in his seat, tugging Keith’s and his intertwined hands down with him. Neither of them seemed to notice the contact between them.

“What?”, Keith asked, his face pulled into a confused pout.

“You’ll see.”, Pidge smirked, her glasses glinting evilly.

The screen shifted to show a burly dark-skinned boy, whose face was scrunched up in nausea. “Lance,” He groans out. “Can you keep this thing straight?” The pilot only shrugs nonchalantly.

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy this.”, Keith said, a smirk making it’s way onto his face mirroring Pidge’s own smirk. Kosmo tilted his head slightly with confusion as to what was going on.

Shiro glanced at them and gave an exasperated sigh with no real annoyance behind it, cracking a small smile when he saw them go back to being their old selves, when the burden of the universe didn't strain their bones and war didn't sing in their blood.

“Relax Hunk, I’m just getting a feel for the stick.”, He replied before a mischievous grin took over his face. “It’s not like I did this.” The ship jolts forward, causing Hunk to groan. “Or this.” There was another abrupt movement followed by a groan from Hunk.

Laughter erupted in the audience, the tension and unease completely dissipating from the room. Iverson only shook his head, wondering why he paired them up.

“Okay, unless you want to wipe beef stroganoff out of all the nooks and crannies of this thing, you better knock it off man!”

A blue pinpoint appeared on the shuttle’s screen and the camera zooms out to show Pidge with a hologram in front of her.

“We’ve picked up a distress beacon.”, She informed.

Lance straightened up, his face turning serious. “All right, look alive, team!”, He said as he pushed buttons above the front console. “Pidge, track coordinates.”

“Copy"

The shuttle shook again.” Knock it off, Lance! Please!”, Hunk cried out from the back. Lance looked back. ”This one’s on you buddy, we’ve got a hydraulic stabilizer out.” Hunk pulled out his board and started working, before gagging.

“Oh no", he said with dread.

“O-no", Lance hissed “Fix now, puke later.”

“I lost contact. The shaking is interfering with our sensors.”, Pidge informed, over the continuous beeping.

“This is such a mess.”, commented Kinkade with a sigh. The MFEs silently agreed taking in the chaotic rescue mission.

“Come on, Hunk!”, Lance whined. Hunk continued to type on his board. “It’s not responding!” Hunk got up from his seat with a moan. Lance interrupted him, “Oh, never mind, fellas. Thar she blows. Preparing for approach on visual.”

“That is literally the opposite of what you should do", Romelle stated.

Lance only further melted into the seat in response.

“I don’t think that’s advisable with our current mechanical and gastrointestinal issues.”, Pidge pointedly stared at Hunk.

Laughter rang in the room at her sass.

“Agreed.” moaned Hunk.

Lance rolled his eyes , “Stop worrying, this baby can take, can’t you champ?”, he patted the ship. The ship let out a loud rumble. Lance pulled back with a panicked expression, “See?, she was nodding, she was just nodding .”

“Sure it was", Rizavi drawled sarcastically.

“Pidge, hail down to them and let them know their ride is here.”, Lance ordered.

She unbuckled her harness, reaching into the overhead cabinet for the com.

“That does not look safe, Number five.", Coran said, with concern lacing his tone.

“Attention, lunar vessel- WHOA!”, She yelped as a violent rumble sent her flying onto the floor.

“Oof", Hunk winced as concern for the youngest paladin took over his face.

“Ehh, I’ve had worse.”, Pidge shrugged. You shouldn’t have had worse, the thought flickered in the paladins minds before they refocused their attention back to the screen. The MFEs who overhead her words, raised a brow, wondering what exactly they faced in space.

“What are you doing?”, Lance scolded Pidge who had yet to get up from the floor. “Buckle your belt. And Hunk, stop that shaking!”

“Yes mom.” Hunk and Pidge smirked.

Lance blushed and stuttered in protest. Keith laughed softly at the trio, at which Lance only blushed harder.

“I’m try-oh, no.”, Hunk vomited.

“I’m happy that I don’t do that anymore.”, Hunk mused. He imagined how piloting Yellow would be with his extreme motion sickness and was glad to have gotten over it.

“We are too, buddy.”, Keith said, no doubt having imagined the same.

“Attention, lunar vessel, this is Galaxy Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango. Coming in for landing and extraction.”, Pidge informed, “Against crew recommendations.”, she added under her breath.

“No time for mutinous comments now, Pidge. They’re going under and we’re going in.” Lance shot back at her before angling the ship into a dive.

“Look out for that overhang!”, Pidge cried.

“No worries. My first year in flight school, you know what they called me? They called me ‘The Tailor’, because of how I thread the needle.”

The others yelled as Lance angled the craft sideways while muttering, “Come around, come around! Come on, come on!”

There was a loud crash, the screen shifted to show a flashing red screen.

“Lance.”, Shiro sighed.

“Ooh, Space Dad", The paladins and an enthusiastic Romelle teased. Shiro blushed slightly before continuing.

“I really hope you three learned something from that.”, He lectured with false exasperation.

The beeping continued, as the screen showed Lance’s tired expression.

“Oh, man", he moaned.

The spacecraft crashed into the ice-covered ground.

“SIMULATION FAILED.”, the screen read.

“Nice work, Tailor.”, Pidge spat.

Behind them, an orange door opened and a man in uniform strolled in. “Roll out, donkeys!”, He ordered with his gravelly voice.

Iverson frowned upon seeing himself on-screen.

“What are donkeys?”, The three alteans asked in unison.

“I’ve told you about horses before, right?”, Lance asked and proceeded when he received nods. “So donkeys are from the same family of horses but smaller.”, He finished before turning back to the screen.

The view changed to show Iverson’s face more clearly, with a glare set onto his face.

“Well, let’s see if we can use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students. Can anyone point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator?” He snarled.

A dark haired boy clad in the Garrison uniform raised his hand. “The engineer puked in the main gearbox.”

“Yes. As everyone knows, vomit is NOT an approved lubricant for the engine systems. What else?”, He stated before turning back to the class.

“The comm spec removed his safety harness.”

“The pilot crashed!”

“Correct. And worst of all, the whole jump, they’re arguing with each other.”, Iverson scrutinised. “Heck, if you’re going to be this bad individually, you’d better at least be able to work as a team.”

“Technically, you guys are now part of the most powerful team in the universe.”, Keith stated with a small smile, one Lance returned with a blush coating his cheeks.

“Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of astro-explorers. But these kind of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos mission.”, Iverson said and Pidge’s eyes widened with anger.

“That’s not true, sir!” Pidge defended.

Iverson flushed with guilt when he felt eyes on him.

“What did you say?”, he snarled and Lance slapped his palm over her mouth before interjecting. “Sorry, sir. I think he hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken.” He flashed a smile.

“Thanks", Pidge said, bumping her shoulder into his.

“No problem.”, He replied, returning her shoulder bump with his own.

“I hope I don’t have to remind you,” Iverson started lowly, towering over Lance.” That the only reason you’re here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out.”

“Don’t follow in his footsteps.”, Lance face held a look of that of a kicked puppy.

“That was way too harsh.”, Pidge bit out. Murmurs of agreement broke out in the crowd.

“Next!”

“Lights out in five! Everyone back to their dorms, now.”

“We shouldn’t be doing this.” Hunk and Lance were peering around the corner in casual clothes.

“Has that ever stopped him before? “,Allura asked teasingly, ignoring the hey! it elicited.

“No, it hasn’t”, Shiro deadpanned.

“You heard Commander Iverson. We need to bond as a team.” Lance said suavely. “We’re going to grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls—,”

“Or guys.", Lance added, wiggling his brows at Keith who blushed beet red.

The lights turned off.

“I-I-I’m just saying this here, right now, on the record. This is a bad idea.”, Hunk stammered.

“Hey, this bad idea led us to allll of this.”, Lance puffed out, his arms gesturing wildly towards the space fam.

“You know, for someone in a space exploration program, you don’t have much of a sense of adventure.” Lance commented, making his way down the halls quietly with Hunk trailing behind him.

“All of your little adventures end up with me in the principal’s office.” Hunk said. As Lance continued sneaking along, he sighed and hunched over. “Oh, man.”

A guard walked up the dark hallway.

“L-5 north all clear.” He spoke into his radio.

When he was gone, the flaps to the bins the guard had walked past, flipped open. They checked to see if the coast was clear before Lance popped out of the bin, with the agility of a cat, while Hunk not so much. He yelled as he crashed to the floor.

There was laughter bubbling from the crowd. The paladins only smiled at the Lance and Hunk's antics.

“He’s surprisingly agile.”, noted Leifsdottir, who had remained silent for the long duration. There were nods of agreement between the MFEs.

Hunk flew to his feet. “I’m fine.” He said. Before he had a chance to walk far, Lance grabbed Hunk’s arm and yanked him down a side hall when a door in front of them slid open. Pidge emerged with a backpack, darting down the hall.

“Enter: me.", Pidge smirked at her onscreen form.

“Where is he going?” Lance muttered, eyes narrowed down the hall which Pidge had gone through.

The screen changed to the roof, where Pidge sat with her eyes closed in concentration and with headphones on, tech surrounding her.

Lance grabbed the side of her headphones and spoke into her ear. “You come up here to rock out?”

Pidge screeched, arms flailing in fear.

“That was quite creepy.”, Coran spoke up, referring to the way Lance snuck up on Pidge.

“Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just looking at… stars.”She said weakly.

“You didn’t even have your eyes open.”, Keith commented, elicited a grumbled shut up from Pidge.

“Man, where’d you get this stuff?” Lance questioned. “It doesn’t look like Garrison tech.”

A smug look appeared on Pidge’s face. “I built it.”

Pidge only puffed up in pride, mirroring her onscreen smug look as she took in the awed expressions of the people in the crowd. The paladins who were aware of her genius mind seemed to radiate familial pride, along with her parents whose beamed at her.

“You built all of this?” Hunk spoke in disbelief, reaching for the tech. Pidge slapped his hands away.

“Touching her equipment is literally one way to hell.”, Lance shuddered, as if recounting her rage.

“Stop it.” She chastised. “With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.”

“Oooh, that’s amazing.”, Romelle gawked.

Lance looked impressed, chin resting in his hand. “That right? All the way to Kerberos?” He smiled deviously at her.

Pidge looked away, grumbling.

“You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up.” Lance exclaimed loudly. “What’s your deal?”

“Well, that was not straightforward at all.”, Veronica commented.

“Second warning, Hunk!” Pidge glared at Hunk, who had grabbed one of Pidge’s scanners. Hunk groaned.

“Look, Pidge, if we’re going to bond as a team, we can’t have any secrets.” Lance stressed his words, staring down at her.

“Truer words haven’t been spoken.”, Allura agreed.

Pidge’s shoulders hunched inward. “Fine. The world as you know it is about to change.” She said. “The Kerberos Mission wasn’t lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake- STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!”

The crowd startled at the look on her face and her yelling while Pidge only whistled lowly before commenting, “Damn, is that how I look when I get mad?”, to which got a chorus of yes as an answer.

Hunk flopped over dejectedly.

“So, I’ve been scanning the system,” Pidge continued. “And picking up alien radio chatter.”

“I love how you can say that so casually like it’s normal.”, Rizavi piped up

“At this point, it is.”, Shiro shrugged.

Hunk sat up quickly. “Whoa. What? Aliens?”

“Okay. So, you’re insane. Got it.” Lance said.

“To be fair, I wasn’t aware of aliens then.”, Lance said, in reply to the glare Pidge was giving him.

“I’m serious.” Pidge growled. “They keep repeating one word, ‘Voltron.’”

She lifted up a notepad, with a little doodle of a robot warrior. Lowering it, she continued with a grim expression. “And tonight, it’s going crazier than I have ever heard it.”

“How crazy?” Lance said in disbelief.

“Hella”, Pidge deadpanned.

Then alarms started going off.

Chapter Text

Alarms started going off and Iverson’s voice was emitted over the Garrison’s PA. “Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown. Security situation Zulu-Niner. Repeat, all students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”

"I remember this.", Rizavi commented, earning nods from many others.

“What’s going on?” Hunk said, jumping to his feet. He looked around before gasping “Is that a meteor?”

Hunk pointed up at the sky. There was a large object incoming, blazing as it left trails of red as it broke through the atmosphere.

 “A very, very big meteor?”, He added nervously.

There were murmurs of confusion and anger as the Garrison officials were pinned down by incredulous stares.

"I'm guessing they hid this entire thing.", Shiro sighed tiredly.

"No kidding.", Griffin muttered under his breath, shock clouding his mind.

Pidge picked up a pair of binoculars that was atop her bag. “It’s a ship.”, She observed.

Lance grabbed the binoculars to look through them as well, and Pidge yelped, still hanging onto them.

“Holy crow! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! That’s not one of ours.”, Lance exclaimed as the screen showed a rapidly approaching ship.

"What. the. hell", someone panicked in the crowd, others echoing the sentiment.

 “No. It’s one of theirs.” Pidge said breathlessly.

“So, wait. There really are aliens out there?”, Hunk asked wide-eyed.

"Yeah, no shit.", Veronica snorted.

The ship crashed into the ground behind some cliffs, a bright light emitting from the crash.

Garrison vehicles turned on, and made their way to the crash site.

"They're very efficient.", Leifsdottir remarked, observing the Garrison's quick reaction time.

“We’ve got to see that ship!” Pidge said with excitement.

Lance ran behind Pidge, calling behind him, “Hunk, come on!”.

"Oh, this is the worst team-building exercise ever.” He groaned before reluctantly following after them.

"In a way, it did help us grow together as a team.", Lance shrugged.

"I mean, it brought us together.", Pidge added with a nod.

The scene changed to show the trio again. They were situated away from the crash site on a cliff, looking down below through binoculars.

Whoa! What the heck is that thing?” Lance gasped, spotting the alien ship.

"And who the heck is she?", He added when the lens moved from the craft to where a female official walked out and zoomed in on her.

"Typical.", Keith remarked with an eye-roll.

“Lance!”, Pidge grumbled.

There was a sound of a blow landing and Lance let out a cry of pain.

"That was well-deserved.", Allura smirked while high-fiving Pidge.

"You all enjoy my pain.", Lance moaned dramatically while draping himself over Keith with his hand on his forehead, causing the latter to blush at the contact.

“Right, alien ship.” Lance reminded himself, getting back to the task at hand.

“Man, we’ll never get past all of those guards to get a look.”, He said with disappointment.

“Aw, man.” Hunk sighed with fake sadness.

“Yeah, yeah, I guess there’s nothing left to do but head back to the barracks, right?” He made a move to leave.

"Really?", Shiro deadpanned with eyes reflecting his dead and tired soul.

Hunk simply melted into the seat, suddenly hungry for something to snack on.

“Wait.” Pidge said, grabbing both their attentions.

“They set up a camera in there and I grabbed it's feed. Look!”

"I'm so proud.", Coran blubbered, tearing up slightly." It's like watching a young Klorvak violently fight it's siblings and win."

"I'm literally not going to ask.", Hunk shuddered.

"Thank you Coran, for just another thing to add to my ever-growing list of things I'd like to forget.", Keith said, sarcasm and tiredness dripping off his words.

"You're welcome.", Coran beamed, completely dodging the sarcasm.

The trio all stared down at the screen, on which they see Shiro strapped to the table as he struggled.

"They never said anything about this at all.", Kinkade commented with furrowed brows. There were murmurs voicing their displeasure at being decieved about the actual situation.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Shiro struggled on-screen.

“Calm down, Shiro. We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests.” spoke Iverson.

“You have to listen to me!” Shiro was panicking, struggling against the restraints. “They destroy worlds! Aliens are coming!”

"You should've just listened.", Pidge tutted.

Lance gasped, pointing at the screen. “That’s Shiro! The pilot of the Kerberos Mission! That guy’s my hero!”

"Shiro the Hero", Romelle teased to Shiro's and Lance's chagrin, both sporting blushes.

Hunk raised a brow. “Guess he’s not dead in space, after all.”

“Where’s the rest of the crew?” Pidge asked.

Sam Holt smiled at his daughter's words, hearing the worry in her tone.

“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?” Iverson asked Shiro.

“I don’t know. Months? Years? Look, there’s no time. Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They’re probably on their way. They’ll destroy us. We have to find Voltron.”, Shiro frantically replied.

"Being strapped to a table was not a fun experience.", Shiro chuckled light-heartedly.

"It would'nt be fun for anyone unless you were really into something kinky.", Lance brazenly commented, earning a thwack from the reddening Shiro and confused looks from the Alteans. Kosmo simply tilted his head at the interaction.

“Voltron!” Pidge exclaimed, sharing a look with Hunk and Lance.

“Sir, take a look at this. It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic.”

“Put him under until we know that thing can do.” Iverson ordered.

Shiro’s eyes widened.

"Bruh, listen to him.", someone groaned with exasperation.

“No, no, no, don-don’t put me under! No! There’s no time!”  He yelled, struggling against the suited people.

“They didn’t ask about the rest of the crew.” Pidge observed, a difference in the tone of her voice.

“What are they doing? He’s a legend. They’re not even gonna listen to him?” Lance added, baffled.

Pidge looked at Lance. “We have to get him out.”

To this, Iverson let out a frustrated groan with a pained look on his face.

“Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren’t we watching on TV because there’s no way to get past the guards?”

“That was before we were properly motivated.”

"Hmm."

"We can feel the sarcasm, Hunk."

“We’ve just got to think. Could we tunnel in?”

“Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs.” Pidge suggested pitching in her own idea.

“Or we dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary— little late-night snack.” Hunk said encouragingly.

Lance and Pidge stared at him.

At the same time, the space fam all turned to Hunk with looks that spelled how done they were. Hunk looked back with an equally as dead look.

“No.” Lance said. “What we need is a distraction.”

"Boom. Here comes mullet-head.", Lance and Pidge said at the same time.

"IT'S NOT A MULLET!"

Suddenly, as if on cue, explosions went off in the distance.

Chapter Text

The sound of explosions boomed through the room, eliciting shouts from the audience. The paladins jolted and tensed as the familiar feeling of the battlefield crashed through them, but they forced themselves to stay calm with the reassurance of  It's not real echoing in their minds in an effort to ground themselves and attempted to focus on the screen.

“Is that the aliens? Is that the aliens? Are they here? They got here so quick!” Hunk panicked, dropping to his knees with his arms covering his head.
“No, those explosions were a distraction,” Pidge said, pointing. “For him.”
The screen showed a hoverbike approaching the crash site as the Garrison vehicles moved towards the scene of the explosion. "The Garrison's headed towards the blast, and he's sneaking in from the other side.", Pidge observed.

Keith merely smirked throughout the scene with smugness radiating off of him.

“No way!” Lance exclaimed. “Oh, he is not going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!”

"He literally didn't recognize you", Hunk sassed earning a indignant squawk from Lance, a fist bump from Pidge and laughter from the space fam.

“Who is it?” Hunk asked.
“Keith!”

"How the quiznak did you recognize me?", Keith asked but his question went unanswered as Lance simply slid further into his seat.
"He-", Pidge started but her voice was quickly cut off as Lance covered her mouth with his hand, letting out a loud screech that echoed through the room.

“Who?” Pidge asked, confused.
“Are you sure?” Hunk questioned in bewilderment.
“Oh, I’d recognize that mullet anywhere!”

"One, It's not a mullet-", Keith muttered with a look that showed how done he was "-and two, how did you even know it was me from that?"

"It's has a distinct shape!", Lance yelled indignantly with pinkened cheeks.

Shiro and Allura both turned to look at each other with identical expressions, with one brow raised and a smirk plastered onto their faces before bringing their attention back to the screen.

“Who’s Keith?” Pidge yelled. The trio slid down the side of the hillside.
The screen switched to inside the containment area.
“These readings are off the chart.” One of the med techs said with confusion.

“Maybe because it’s, Oh I don’t know, from space.”, Veronica snarked.

The door to the room opened and all three heads turned to that direction. A masked dark haired boy stood in the doorway, purple eyes narrowed.

“Enter: Keith, ready to fight 24/7.”, Romelle announced before turning to Pidge who gave her a look of a proud mother hen.

“I taught you well, my young padawan.”, Pidge praised, wiping her fake tears in an exaggerated motion.
Keith simply stared with a look that was more dead than Zarkon. 

“Hey!” The three suited scientists exclaimed and ran towards Keith, who leaned back, raising his fists. The three of them went flying. Keith jumped over their bodies to reach the table.

“Damn.”, Kinkade whistled with a nod of acknowledgement.

 He pulled down his mask, a hand reaching out to tilt Shiro’s head to the side.
His eyes widened upon recognizing who it was, eyes filled with a mix of emotions.

He's beautiful, Lance’s heart stuttered with eyes focused intently on the screen. 

Hunk and Coran exchanged glances with knowing smiles before the scene continued again.

Keith had Shiro’s non prosthetic arm slung over his shoulder when the door opened again to reveal the Garrison trio.

“Nope. No, you— no, no, no. No, you don’t. I’m saving Shiro.” Lance said in protest, shoving the table aside.

“Always so competitive.”, Allura tsked with warmth in her tone.

“Who are you?” Keith asked, as Lance wrapped Shiro’s other arm over his own shoulder.

“Bruh", someone in the back of the crowd muttered.
“I am not good with names and faces okay!”, Keith yelled in his defence.
How did he even hear that, James thought in surprise with widened eyes trying to make sense of it all.

“Who am I? Uh, the name’s Lance.” He said, staring at Keith. When Keith didn’t respond, he continued. “We were in the same class at the Garrison."

 There were more sighs of frustration which caused Keith to simply slide down his seat.

“Really? Are you uh, an engineer?” Keith asked. Lance pouted in offense.
“No, I’m a pilot! We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck.”

“Can they be considered ‘rivals’ when it's one-sided”, Coran asked Hunk as he leaned towards him.

Hunk only shrugged with an expression showing that he doesn't even know anymore.

“Oh, wait.” Keith said then, eyes narrowed. “I remember you. You’re a cargo pilot.”
“Well, not anymore. I’m fighter class now, thanks to you washing out.” Lance snapped back.
“Well, congratulations.” Keith responded with a dull tone.

“How did you get kicked out anyway?”, Shiro asked.
“That’s a story that will never come to light.” Keith replied.

Meanwhile Hunk was looking through binoculars to see the Garrison coming back from the explosion site

“Oh, man. They’re coming back and they do not look happy. We’ve got to go.” Pidge and Hunk ran, catching up to Keith and Lance who were carrying Shiro to Keith’s hover bike.

“This seems like it’s going to get dangerous.”, Rizavi commented, leaning forward eagerly.

"Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?” Hunk said as he hopped onto the back of the bike without waiting for an answer.
“Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?” Pidge yelled at Keith.
“No.” Keith growled back.

“But hey, we made it work, somehow.”, Hunk stated with enthusiasm bringing a soft smile on their faces.

“Why am I holding this guy?” Pidge asked out loud.

“You should have just thrown me away.”, Shiro deadpanned with an empty look. He ended up getting punches from everyone in the space fam. Even Kosmo smacked him with his paw.

“Hey, we did all fit.” Hunk said cheerfully. Lance glanced back at the Garrison vehicles on their tail.

“Just barely.”, Leifsdottir sniped.

“Can’t this thing go any faster?” He asked Keith.
"We could toss out some non-essential weight.” Keith threw back flippantly.
“Oh, right!” Lance exclaimed in agreement, looking around the hover bike.
“Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.”

“Oof", the crowd muttered.

“Big man, lean left!” Keith called back to Hunk. Hunk obliged, and behind them two Garrison vehicles wiped each other out.
“Aw, man!” Hunk cried. “Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery!… No, no. He’s fine.” He corrected.

“Big man, lean right!” Keith called again. The hover bike soared off the edge of the cliff onto another cliff. Everyone on the hover bike yelled as they went flying, the Garrison vehicles right behind them. One of the vehicles went rolling as they all went careening around the curve of the cliff. Pidge was screaming the loudest.

“That’s some smooth handling.”, Professor Montgomery remarked.

Only one vehicle remained.
“Guys?” Hunk said stammering. “I-i-i-i-is that a cliff up ahead?”
“Oh, no, no, no!”
“Yup.” Keith said, grinning as he revved the engine of the bike.
“No, no, no!” The bike accelerated and they went soaring off the edge.